[6][1][7] Following months of tension and threats, the first agreement to establish the Northern Syria Buffer Zone was reached in mid August 2019, between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the United States on the one hand, and Turkey on the other.

The deal aimed to limit the Turkish offensive on Syria's north through a process of gradual withdrawal of SDF, removal of fortifications and joint US-Turkish monitoring and patrols, while still allowing the area to remain under the civil control of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the military control of the Syrian Democratic Forces military councils as per the first buffer zone agreement.

[8][9] In early October that same year, following a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump, Trump announced the withdrawal of US forces from the region, which allowed Erdoğan to dismiss the first buffer zone deal and launch his 2019 offensive into north-eastern Syria against the SDF, which Turkey considers to be an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, an organization designated by Turkey as a terrorist group.

[16] Seeking to avoid further expansion of Turkish control within Syria's territory, Bashar al-Assad's government agreed to a deal with the SDF to move the Syrian Army into the border areas.

[17] Subsequently, the Syrian Army entered several SDF-held towns and positioned troops on the seam lines between the two sides in a bid to stop the Turkish offensive.